Pokémon Remix: Shiny Hunt
by Yuki Ryu
Summary: One of the greatest perks of being related to Professor Okido was the free room and board for all Pokemon at his laboratory - with certain rules. All was well and good, until one of those rules came in to play. Suddenly, grown adults squabbled like children as the Okido clan divided itself over something they valued more than family - a shiny.


"You can't just make these kinds of decisions by yourself!"

"On the contrary, I believe I most certainly can."

Professor Okido's expression was unusually devoid of emotion. Though normally he was always energetic and cheerful, when surrounded by a number of irate individuals, particularly ones who were members of his own family, suppressing his emotions was the only way to keep his calm.

Okidos of all ages, shapes, and sizes stood before the most famous professor in the Pokémon world, crowding his living room to the point that there was no room left for half of them to sit. The only thing they had in common was the current undercurrent of anger influencing their actions. Grumbling and quiet complaints rumbled throughout the house as a constant din the background of outraged outbursts.

"No, you can't!" one of the Okidos, a middle-aged man with glasses and a business suit, said as he gestured wildly. "This involves our Pokémon-!"

"When you left your Pokémon in my care, you agreed that you understood the Pokémon would have free reign of my property, along with all the other Pokémon," Professor Okido said, unmoved by his younger relative practically shouting in his face. "And that as a result, all eggs found on the property belong to me to do with as I see fit, as it would be physically impossible to verify ownership to anyone's satisfaction."

The man gestured wildly in the hopes that his hands could explain where his words failed. "Yes, but this is–"

"If you don't like my terms," Professor Okido said, raising his voice as he cut through the man's tirade, "you're more than welcome to take your Pokémon and use any of the numerous Pokémon daycare centers in the world." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "Though they aren't free, like my facility."

The man in the suit grimaced, clenching his hands. He did not have a response to the professor's statement and instead smoldered impotently in anger.

Another relative, a woman in a jumpsuit, was unwilling to back down. "But we know it came from a Charizard! That alone should–"

"There are seven Charizards under my care," Professor Okido said, with an arched eyebrow. "And that's assuming that Kaiser is a pure-breed. None of the Charizards have black coloration. And while there certainly could be one that has that as a recessive trait, it in no way helps distinguish who the parents are."

The woman was about to retort when another Okido, a young man in a blazer and jeans, interrupted. "He's named it already!_?_"

"Yes," Professor Okido said. "Shigeru has already named _his_ Pokémon. I see no reason why he shouldn't."

"Because it shouldn't be his in the first place!" the young Okido in the blazer protested.

"That's not for you to decide," Professor Okido said, fixing the younger man with a gaze forged in steel.

A more motherly woman in a blue blouse and white skirt sighed and clucked her tongue. "I understand that you like to spoil the boy, but this isn't just some random egg." She made a broad gesture towards the large patio windows that gave those inside a perfect view of the massive Pokémon preserve that surrounded the Okido laboratory. "Even you must understand that."

The young man in the blazer curled his lips in a sneer. "Like that brat needs more spoiling!" he said sharply, practically spitting out the words.

Anger crept up on Professor Okido, wearing away at his carefully controlled calm. "I find it curious that you're making judgments about Shigeru's character when you've never bothered to get to know him," he said, every word covered in frost. "If anyone deserves a shiny Charmander, it's Shigeru."

Shigeru sat on the steps to the back porch, out of sight but close enough that he could clearly hear the argument going on within his home. When his grandfather had sent him on a vague 'errand', he had immediately become suspicious. Professor Okido was normally very clear in his instructions, which made Shigeru suspect it was nothing more than an attempt to keep the young Okido away from the house.

It was obvious to see, or rather _hear_, why.

Shigeru grimaced before glancing down at the source of everyone's ire – a pure black Charmander with intense golden eyes. Her skin had a soft, glistening sheen, an ephemeral glow that seemed not of this world. She sat quietly in the green-eyed boy's lap, also listening to the argument as it raged on.

A fluffy, pure white Eevee with a similar mystical glow sat on Shigeru's shoulder, ears twitching as he looked at the human boy with concern in his silver eyes. The Eevee curled his tail around Shigeru's neck in a supportive caress.

"It's bad enough that you gave him that Eevee!" the man in the suit shouted, finding traction for his fire once more. "Silph Co. didn't give it to you just so you could give it away to someone else!"

"Eon likes Shigeru," Professor Okido said, with a sigh. "Besides, I had already finished my evaluation and granted Eevees official entry in to the League as legitimate Pokemon. What I did with him after that is–"

Another Okido, a man in glasses, slammed his open palm on the coffee table. "He's not your only grandson!"

A pregnant silence descended in the room as Professor Okido directed a stern gaze towards the man in glasses as his mouth drew in a thin line. His expression showed everyone gathered before him that his seemingly infinite patience was running thin. After a moment, Professor Okido finally spoke. "I will not be shouted at."

"We're just concerned," the motherly Okido said. "He's so young, and this may be too much responsibility–"

"Shigeru has been helping me with my work since he was nine years old," Professor Okido said, raising his voice to cut off his relative. "I think I have a good idea how much responsibility Shigeru can handle."

"But you know children," the man in the suit said. "They're completely irresponsible with their Pokémon! They treat the Pokémon like toys to collect and throw away when they get bored with them. That's why the league raised the minimum age from ten to sixteen decades ago." Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room, accompanied with countless nodding heads.

"Shigeru is not like those children," Professor Okido said. "He is the most responsible and forthright young man I've ever known."

Shigeru trembled slightly, tightening his grip on the shiny Charmander, who was tense. He was thankful that his grandfather was protecting him, but there was a part of him that was afraid the professor would be bullied into betraying him – just like Shigeru had betrayed his grandfather.

What else could it be but a betrayal? Shigeru could only imagine his relatives' reaction to knowing that the shiny Charmander they were fighting for did not simply happen spontaneously, but had been the calculated result of an underage child engaging in Pokémon breeding without a license.

Shigeru had spent so many hours using his position as his grandfather's assistant to select just the right Charizards – Charizards that belonged to the very people lambasting him without knowledge of his crimes. He fed the Charizards plenty of his high nutrient, homemade food to keep them healthy and vigorous, and arranged them to share space together during the female's heat cycle, where she would be most receptive to a male. It had been pure luck that the female approved of the male Shigeru liked, and that an egg resulted from his matchmaking. He went even further to tend to that egg, to care for it and make certain it was always at the ideal temperature and well cared for. Absolutely nothing about Kaiser had been up to chance, and she was the result of months of effort.

Effort that Shigeru knew was a total betrayal to Professor Okido's trust, and undeniably illegal.

Shigeru lowered his head as he held Kaiser close, burying his face against the back of her head. "I…," he whispered. "Grandpa…"

"I'm sure he's a good boy," the motherly Okido said before letting out a sniff. "But he must be made to understand that he can't always have his way. You're getting older now, and he's using that–"

"Don't try to bury me before I'm dead," Professor Okido said before adding a small laugh that carried no humor. "I gave Shigeru that egg because I felt he deserved it for all the hard work he does." He paused to regard the large crowd of relatives standing before him. "To be quite honest, I don't even know how any of you even found out about Kaiser. He certainly wouldn't have told you, and I most certainly didn't."

The sound of the front door opening was as loud as a gunshot. "Grandpa, I'm back with–" Shigeru recognized his sister Nanami's voice instantly. In his mind's eye, he could see her with whatever item their grandpa sent her on an 'errand' for, standing in the doorway gawking at the huge crowd that had gathered in their home. He could imagine her shocked expression turn to stone when he heard her voice switch instantly from its usual melodious warmth to a chill that would make even ice Pokémon shiver. "Oh. I should have guessed we had company. What do you want _this_ time?"

"You see?" the man with the blazer said, obviously outraged, and Shigeru looked up in time to see his accusing finger pointed directly at Nanami. "This is exactly what we're talking about! These children have never once shown an ounce of respect to their elders or to their family!"

A grimace appeared on Professor Okido's face as he watched Nanami walk stiffly through the crowd of family as though they were little more than oversized obstacles that grunted or yelped as she elbowed her way past them. It was clear to Shigeru that their grandfather had not expected Nanami to finish the 'errand' so soon. It was also apparent that Nanami had no qualms with standing her ground and facing the slings and arrows their family were armed and ready to throw at them – unlike him.

A woman in thick spectacles let out a harrumph of displeasure. "The nerve of these children. To think that they would prey on an old man who took them in when they had nowhere else in the world to go."

"It's shameless is what it is," a man in a three-piece suit said with a disdainful sniff, his face wrinkled up as though Nanami gave off a particularly unpleasant odor. "I can't believe just how shameless these children two can be. To think that they have the nerve to take advantage of the kindness of _family_…"

"Pot. Kettle. Black," Nanami said in a harsh tone, her voice so low that Shigeru had to strain to hear it.

"It's simply unfair, that's all we're saying," the woman wearing a silver feather pin on her blouse said as she gave Nanami a sideways glance before returning her attention to the professor. "It's unfair to the rest of your grandchildren, as well as your nieces and nephews and, above all, your own _children_."

"Pokémon are not objects to be handed out evenly, like candy or Christmas presents," Professor Okido said, his voice weary. "Shigeru takes Pokémon very seriously, so I know he'll take good care of both Eon and Kaiser."

Nanami held out the brown bag to the professor. "Shigeru is just so _great_ with the Pokemon, isn't he, Grandpa? So much better than _other_ trainers I could name." Her voice was like poison covered in sugar, the sweet tone doing nothing to eradicate the harshness of her words.

"You're not doing Shigeru any favors," one of the female Okido said, gently. "Can't you see–"

"Enough already!" the man in the blazer shouted. "I want to know why you never considered giving anyone else that shiny Charmander!" He threw his arm out to his side, completely oblivious to how he accidentally struck a shorter man standing at his side. "You could've approached any one of us! He's not even old enough to get his license yet! The damn thing's useless to him!"

Professor Okido's jaw clenched. He glanced towards Nanami before turning to fix the rest of his relatives with a hard stare.

Nanami rounded on the man in the blazer, her eyes alight with rage. "You want to know the real reason why? It's because _Shigeru_ isn't going to _sell_ Kaiser to the highest bidder! That's why!" She stepped forward and jabbed the man's chest with a sharpened fingernail. "And don't even _try_ to pretend that's not what's going on here. We've been getting constant harassment to sell Kaiser since she hatched. _Including_ from people foolish enough to ask Grandpa for more information about Kaiser's parents because if they already promised _a certain person with a bald spot and a beer gut_ 3.2 million for her, then they want first dibs at getting the next shiny Charmander they might have!"

The man in the blazer backed up slightly, bristling as a small bead of sweat appeared on his forehead. "That's… what I'd do – what _any_ of us'd do with that shiny Charmander is none of your business!"

Professor Okido took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Exactly," he said, his voice quiet, but carrying a weight of finality that quieted further protests for the moment. "Now you seem to understand."

Nanami made a show of tapping her chin and looking towards the ceiling. "Gee, that reminds me, what was that Uncle Momotaro said? Something about how 'that Eevee' is a 'goldmine' because people will pay millions for a shiny Eevee egg? Oh, and I seem to remember someone saying the same thing about a certain Pikachu _that we don't even own_ just because he appears on the lab's blog."

Shigeru straightened up, like a bolt of lightning had just struck him, though it was more realization than electricity. Satoshi maintained the Okido Laboratory blog and had recorded Kaiser's hatching. At least, he was fairly certain the red-eyed boy had. Admittedly, Shigeru had been very distracted with the newborn Charmander, who had felt so small and fragile in his arms. He had been fairly overwhelmed by the experience, overall. However, Satoshi had been around when it happened, and the other boy was in charge of the lab's online journal, so the connection was rather easy to make.

It seemed that Shigeru's grandfather had the same thought. Professor Okido's eyes widened suddenly. "_Ah_. Of course. The blog."

"What did you expect to happen?" the man in the blazer said. "You announce that you have shiny Pokémon to the entire world, and you expect us to just do _nothing_? Just let someone else claim them without bothering to put up a fight at all? You didn't even bother to let us know that one of our Charizards had reproduced before you're off bragging about it to the entire world!"

"I was under no obligation to tell you anything," Professor Okido said, a slight edge to his voice. "The egg, according to the terms you all agreed to, belonged to me. This agreement was made specifically to avoid situations like this, where ownership of the egg would be impossible to determine."

"Check its DNA!" the man in the suit demanded. "Test the DNA of every damn Pokémon on the property!"

Professor Okido's cheek twitched. "And then what? I'd still be forced to chose between two people. And, unlike Solomon, I'm not going to suggest sawing Kaiser in half, as I suspect both sides would prefer their pound of flesh than doing the right thing. Besides, it's a moot point."

"It's not a moot point!" another Okido, a woman in a red and yellow jumpsuit, shouted. "I have a right to know!"

"I know Kaiser isn't officially his yet," the motherly Okido said, raising her voice over a multitude of protests, as if she were the only one being reasonable. "He can take care of it for now, but rather than turn it over when he gets his license, it should really be held up to a family discussion as to who gets–"

"No," Professor Okido said, his hard voice cutting in as Nanami was about to protest. His expression made it clear – he had reached his limit. "This is not up for debate. This is not up for negotiation. This is not up for discussion."

Practically everyone started talking then, countless shouts and pleas giving their own argument about who deserved Kaiser more. The clamor ended just as abruptly as it started with the blare of an air horn.

When the noise ended, a new voice cut in through the silence that followed. "Everyone has one minute to leave the premises."

All eyes turned to the back porch, where a young man with slightly messy black hair hidden under a baseball cap and vibrant red eyes stood with his arm propped against the now open door, an air horn casually dangling from one hand. On his shoulder was a Pikachu with golden fur that had an almost mystical shine.

Shigeru jerked back and out of sight, startled by the sudden appearance of Satoshi. He had been so focused on what was going on inside the house that he did not notice the red-eyed boy. Although, it always seemed as though Satoshi had a supernatural ability to appear out of nowhere when one least expected it.

A woman wearing a string of pearls wrinkled her nose at Satoshi. "Ah, it's that assistant of yours." The words were spoken as though she was pointing out an unpleasant mess a naughty Pokémon made on the carpet.

The man in the blazer sneered at Satoshi. "Are you threatening us, _Boy_?"

Satoshi did not flinch at the glare. Instead, he brought his fingers up to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. A moment later, three Blastoise arrived by his side. Although the doorway to the patio was massive, the three giant turtle Pokémon completely blocked out the view of the outside as they towered over the young man. "Forty seconds left."

A number of the arguing family members scrambled back from the large Pokémon. "Wh-what is this_?_!"

A ghost of a smile tugged at Satoshi's lips. "The riot suppression squad."

Shigeru gawked at Satoshi, not quite believing what he was seeing. "S-Satoshi–!_?_"

Professor Okido's eyes widened at the sight of the Blastoise, but then his attention was immediately taken away by the sound of a different voice from outside the window. "Shigeru?"

The man in the blazer grabbed Satoshi by the collar, yanking the boy upward to stand on tiptoes as he came close enough to spit in Satoshi's face as he spoke. "Now see here, you brat! You can't just threaten me! Do you know who I am_?_!"

Pikachu let out a warning growl as sparks danced across his cheeks until Satoshi raised a hand.

"I don't care," Satoshi said as he wiped away the spittle with the back of his glove.

A blast of water from one of the Blastoise smacked into the man hard in the cheek and sent him flying back into two more people, who were sent crashing to the floor, completely soaked.

"Ten seconds," Satoshi said as he smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothes.

"N-now, now," the motherly Okido said, "we're just trying to discuss this as a family–" Her words were cut off with a shriek when a blast of water came close to hitting her. She fumbled back a couple steps and noticed that several of the other Okidos who had simply been standing by during the initial argument were already hurrying for the door. She hesitated for a moment more before she quickly scurried after them.

Once the last of the relatives had vanished, Satoshi leaned out the patio door to lock eyes with Shigeru. "You can start dinner now."

Shigeru stared at Satoshi for a moment, struggling to accept what had just happened. "Did you… did you just chase my relatives away so I could cook you food?"

Satoshi's expression was deadpan, which was scarcely different from how he normally looked. "Mom got a new age vegan cookbook."

Shigeru stared at Satoshi, utterly dumbfounded.

"I want cheeseburgers," Satoshi said. "Pikachu wants pizza." He paused and looked over towards the Eevee on Shigeru's shoulder who made gestures at him. "Eon wants dumplings."

Shigeru opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out, so he closed his mouth again with an audible click. He glanced at Eon, who looked back at him and shrugged with a sheepish smile. He turned his attention to Kaiser, who was looking up at him. She was putting on a serious face, one that attempted to judge the Eevee for his 'betrayal', but her rumbling stomach told an entirely different story. She was still a baby, after all. After a moment more, he let out a sigh and proceeded in to the house. It saved him from having to deal with the conversation he had overheard, and he could tell by the look on Nanami's and Professor Okido's faces that they felt similarly awkward. "All right, all right… junk, junk, and more junk it is."

Eon lifted his tiny paws as he let out a happy yip.

Satoshi nodded to the Blastoise. "Thanks." One of the turtle Pokémon gestured at him, bringing a crooked smile to his lips. He watched them return to the preserve that surrounded the Okido lab before he closed the patio door and followed Shigeru into the kitchen.


End file.
